Brand covered her hand. “You don’t need to sell them, honey.”
She abruptly stopped rambling. “No, I don’t.” Chin lifting, she said, “With all the new high-level business we’ve brought in, the results speak for themselves.”
“They do,” Scott said softly. “But I never doubted it, sis. You would only hire the best. I know that.”
The vote of confidence cleared away her frown. “Thank you.”
He segued right into business. “Now, as you know, proving that Chelsea Tuttle plotted to have me killed would be impossible.”
Shooting halfway out of her seat, Sahara flattened her hands on the table. “You can’t give up! I won’t let her get away with this. One way or another, I’m going to see that woman—”
“Down, killer.” Scott laughed. “You’re always so ferocious.”
“It’s not funny,” she snapped, some of her natural vitality returning.
“No, I suppose it’s not, but relax, okay? It’s working out, I promise.”
“Oh.” She glanced at everyone with a tinge of embarrassment, then sank back into her chair with a renewed frown. “You better tell me that she’s going to prison for a very long time, because I won’t be satisfied with anything else.”
“All right.” Scott looked only at his sister. “Ross Moran once worked for me. You know that much. I’m not sure if he explained all of it, though.”
“Only that you still owed him money,” Sahara said.
“Very true. Attempted murder has a way of making you forget your debts, at least for a time.”
“And that the two of you had grown close?”
“I trusted Ross,” he confirmed.
Leese stared at Scott. “Enough to give him the passcode to your security system?”
Wincing, Scott explained, “He’s actually a security specialist, and yes, after I had a suspicion that I was being followed, he did know the code because he helped beef up the system.”
Justice snorted. “I made it better.” His jaw locked. “And unlike the goon you hired, I would never break in and attack Sahara.”
A flush rose up Scott’s neck and his shoulders tightened. “That was unforgivable. He claims to be taken with her—”
“And that justifies attempted rape?” Miles asked.
“If I thought he would have taken it that far,” Scott stated, “I’d kill him myself.”
In a lethally calm tone, Brand said, “I’ll handle that for you.”
Scott glanced at Brand, did a double take over the seriousness of his expression, and frowned. “I already explained things to him.” At that, Scott rubbed his knuckles. “When I found out he’d been in the house, and that he’d gotten out by the tree, I had it trimmed.”
Sahara’s eyes flared. “That was you?”
Disgusted, Scott said, “I’d snuck in to get more money by pretending to be part of a landscaping team.”
“Team?” Justice asked.
“The others with me really were from a landscaping firm.”
“More money?” Brand asked.
Scott gestured dismissively. “I kept gold and silver in a secret vault in the basement. That’s how I funded myself, since I couldn’t access any of my accounts.”
“You snuck in?” Sahara asked, wounded by the possibility. “You were there and never told me?”
“Until I figured out who’d tried to kill me, no one could know I was alive. By not telling you, I protected you.”
“By not telling her,” Brand stated softly, “you left her vulnerable to the likes of Ross Moran and his gang.”
“That was definitely an error in judgment, but how was I to know Ross would get enamored with her?”
Brand narrowed his eyes. “How could you think any man wouldn’t?”
Scott flattened his mouth. “Believe me, he’ll be very careful around her from now on.”
So that there would be no mistakes, Brand sat forward and stated, “He won’t be around her ever again. Period.”
“As to that...” Scott shoved back his chair and began to pace.
Brand didn’t like it, but he knew Sahara well enough to let her handle things—as long as she handled them in a way that satisfied his protective instincts.
“You were wiser than me, Sahara.” Scott glanced at her. “You knew all along that Chelsea Tuttle was trouble.”
“More than trouble,” Sahara muttered. “She’s sick and dangerous and—”
“You remember when she hired guards from the agency?”
“Yes.” Disgust narrowed her eyes. “They reported back that she’d tried to use them in perverted sexual favors.”
Since they hadn’t heard the story yet, Leese, Miles and Justice stared in fascination.
“It seemed so far-fetched at the time,” Scott murmured, “I wasn’t sure what to believe. Overall she seemed spoiled, brazen, but mostly harmless. After she admitted to drinking too much and flirting—which she said they’d misconstrued—I tried to give her the benefit of the doubt.”
“Big mistake,” Sahara said.
“Clearly.” He paused. “Maybe I’m better at judging men than women.”
Brand snorted. Far as he could tell, her brother sucked at that, too.
Ignoring him, Scott said to Sahara, “Chelsea later told me that you’d threatened her.”
“Did she?” Sahara smiled with chilling amusement. “Well, it’s true. And I have plenty of evidence to ruin her socially, even if it doesn’t get her locked up.”
“You told her to quit her games?”
“And to stay away from you.” Anger brought her brows together. “Apparently I didn’t go far enough to impress my intentions on her if she contacted you again after that.”
“Oh, you did. She believed you would ruin her—or worse. She made me swear I wouldn’t tell you about her visit to the agency because she said she feared for her life.”
“Then she’s not as dumb as I assumed.”
“Not dumb, no, but very cunning.” Scott looked at each of the men. “I trust what I say will stay confidential?”
Leese shrugged. “As you already pointed out, we’re loyal to Sahara.”
“We wouldn’t say or do anything to hurt her,” Justice added.
“You all work for Body Armor and that gives you certain credibility.” He turned thoughtfully toward Brand. “You, however, are an outsider.”
Brand smiled at the absurdity of that.
Before he could say anything, Miles spoke up. “He’s not officially a bodyguard, but you’d be an idiot not to see how protective he is of her.”
“It’s because I’m not an idiot that I’m being cautious.”
Sahara cast a worried glance at first Miles and then Brand. “You can speak freely, Scott. I plan to. I have complete trust in everyone here.”
Scott’s skeptical gaze lingered on Brand a moment longer. “We’ll talk about your role soon.”
With soft menace, Brand said, “I’ll look forward to it.”
Throwing up her hands, Sahara said, “That’s enough from both of you. We have bigger issues than macho pride.” She glared at her brother. “Spit it out already.”
Scott finally drew his gaze from Brand’s. After running a hand through his hair, he said, “Chelsea wanted Body Armor to provide security during a special event she had planned. Of course, she wasn’t exactly forthcoming on the type of event. She just wanted assurance that no one interrupted by hiring bodyguards to protect the perimeter of the property.”
“Ross told me part of this,” Sahara said, “but at the time I didn’t realize he was talking about Chelsea.”
“He knew not to mention it, not even to you. Especially to you. I told him I wanted you kept out of it completely.”
She stiffened. “You excluded me.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
Leese said, “So while you were keeping her in the dark, she was taking matters into her own hands.”
“Yes.” Scott gave a rueful laugh. “Knowing my sister, I should have realized what she would do.”
“Yeah,” Miles said. “You should have.”
“I could have told you,” Justice added with a snort.